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This article introduces a novel method that combines a “big data” measurement of the content of individuals’ Facebook (FB) news feeds with traditional survey measures to explore the antecedents and effects of exposure to news and politics content on the site. Drawing on recent theoretical and methodological advances, we demonstrate how such a hybrid approach can be used to (a) untangle distinct channels of public affairs content within respondents’ FB news feeds, (b) explore why respondents vary in the extent to which they encounter public affairs content on the site, and (c) examine whether the amount and type of public affairs content flows in one’s FB is associated with political knowledge and participation above and beyond self-report measures of news media use.
Wells et al. (Wed,) studied this question.
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